Emanuel Begins Search For Jackson Successor

CHICAGO (CBS) — Mayor Emanuel says he’s accepting online applications for a successor to Sandi Jackson as alderman of the 7th Ward, but the wife of former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. has her own ideas.

In a farewell to friends and supporters this week, she said she essentially will hand-pick her successor. Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell reports media were barred from the meeting but the paper obtained a recording of her remarks.

Mitchell says Jackson all but declared her chief-of-staff, Keiana Barrett, as her successor.

“Mayor Rahm may say he wants to have interviews,” she said. “The people he will interview will be the people I am suggesting.”

Barrett’s name had emerged as a possible replacement until it turned out she doesn’t live in the 7th Ward, but Jackson predicted that issue would be resolved.